Halsey Minor

Bio

[imageframe lightbox=”no” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”dropshadow” hover_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”left” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][/imageframe]An Internet and tech pioneer, Halsey Minor was a key player in the digital publishing revolution. In 1993, he founded CNET Networks, the first comprehensive consumer-facing technology content publisher and one of the most-visited and trusted technology information resources in the world. Halsey led CNET to become a NASDAQ 100 company. CNET was acquired by CBS Corporation in 2008.

In 1997, Halsey spun off technology developed by CNET to Vignette, a web-publishing software company, acquiring a 33% stake in the company. Vignette was one of the most successful IPOs of the first tech boom, reaching a market capitalization of $10.7 billion in 2000. Halsey provided the seed funding for trailblazing music service Rhapsody in 1998.

In 1999, Halsey invested in Salesforce.com, foreseeing the emerging cloud-computing industry that Salesforce led with its “No Software” slogan. He was Salesforceâ€™s second-largest shareholder at the companyâ€™s 2004 IPO, owning over 10% of the company.

In 2005, Halsey established Minor Ventures, the vehicle through which he founded and funded a string of successful tech startups, including OpenDNS, a web security leader, and Grand Central Communications, one of the worldâ€™s first web-based telephony companies. In 2007, Halsey sold Grand Central Communications to Google as Google Voice.